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Partisan stakes

North Carolina's judicial elections are technically non-partisan. However, it is a state where the justices' political affiliations are clearly known and political parties may publicly endorse candidates. The Supreme Court of North Carolina has five Republicans and two Democrats on its bench. In 2014, four seats were up for election, so a majority of the seven-member court was up for grabs.

Three Democratic seats and one Republican seat were initially up for election in 2014. Two of those seats--the chief justice position and Justice Martin's open seat--were given new, Republican incumbents thanks to appointments by Governor Pat McCrory in August 2014. That resulted in the chief justice position changing from a Democratic incumbent (Sarah Parker, who retired) to a Republican incumbent (Mark Martin, who ran for a full term in 2014). Going into the November elections, two seats were occupied by Republicans and two by Democrats.

A partisan flip was not possible, even though a majority of the court's seats were up for election. Because Democrats did not run a candidate for chief justice, they were not able to win four seats.

Republicans, on the other hand, had a chance to monopolize the court had they ousted justices Cheri Beasley and Robin Hudson. At the time of the election, North Carolina was a Republican-dominated state, where the GOP holds the governorship, a majority in both legislative houses and a majority on the supreme court. This is referred to as a trifecta plus by Ballotpedia. A court fully controlled by the Republicans would be favorable to the similarly controlled executive and legislative branches if any of their new laws are challenged in court. More information on state government trifectas is available here: Ballotpedia: State government trifectas.

Chief Justice Sarah Parker's retirement initially left the chief justice seat on the court vacant. North Carolina is one of just seven states where the chief justice is chosen by voters.[6]

Going into the race for chief justice, Mark Martin, a Republican, already had the advantage of being a sitting justice of the supreme court. In August, he was appointed by Governor Pat McCrory to temporarily fill the chief justice role until the election. This gave him the advantage of incumbency going into the November election.[7]

This is nothing more than pure politics in an effort to give my opponent an advantage—the upper hand—in the race.[8][9]

”

However, she still showed confidence in her chances, stating:

“

People are offended when the choice is made for them. I believe people want to exercise their right to vote. Mark Martin will have the distinct honor of being the shortest-serving chief justice in the state of North Carolina.[8][9]

”

Martin won election to the court in 1998 and was re-elected in 2006. He was endorsed by the North Carolina Republican Party, but also had endorsements by all five of the living chief justices of the state's supreme court--three of whom are Democrats.[10][11]

Former Chief Justice Parker reached the mandatory retirement age of 72, so she was not eligible to run for re-election. She served on the state's high court since 1992 and became its chief justice in 2006. She was a registered Democrat and had been supported in the past by the Democratic party.[14]

Mark Martin's term ended in 2014. However, he was appointed to the chief justice seat vacated by Parker, and ran for election to a full term in that role, as explained above. His seat as an associate justice was available.

Sam Ervin was elected to Martin's seat in 2014. Ervin, a Democrat, was unsuccessful in his bid for Justice Paul Martin Newby's seat in 2012. The race was deemed to have the second-highest rate of spending by outside groups nationally.

Ervin's colleague on the bench, Republican Robert N. Hunter, Jr., also ran for Martin's seat. At the time of the election, Ervin and Hunter both served on the court of appeals. In August 2014, Hunter was appointed to the seat on the supreme court by Governor Pat McCrory, giving him the advantage of incumbency.[15][16][7]

Near the end of her term as governor, in 2012, Bev Perdue appointed Cheri Beasley to the court. Beasley, a Democrat, was elected to a full term on the court in 2014. Ola M. Lewis originally announced plans to run for this seat but ran for the chief justice seat instead. Beasley defeated Michael Robinson in the election, a partner at the law firm of Robinson & Lawing, LLP.[13][16][17][18]

Incumbent Robin Hudson won a second term on the court in 2014. She previously won election to the court for the first time in 2006. She filed for re-election on February 20, 2014. Hudson, a Democrat, was the only incumbent who had to run in the primary on May 6.[19][12]

Jeanette Doran competed for Hudson's seat, but was eliminated in the primary (see below).[20]

An important primary

This was the only supreme court race in North Carolina that included a primary election. That election was held on May 6, 2014.

With two Republican candidates in the primary, voter turnout from that party was expected to be high. Local politics blog Lady Liberty 1885 pointed out that this could even cause Hudson to lose her seat, since only two candidates may advance from the primary. Additionally, a slew of Republican candidates ran in the state's U.S. Senate election, hoping for a chance to face Democratic Senator Kay Hagan in the fall. That race was also expected to encourage more Republican participation in the primary and put Hudson at a disadvantage. However, after election night, it was reported that Democrats accounted for approximately 42 percent of the voters, while Republicans represented only about 31 percent. Doran was eliminated from the race.[21][22][23]

Political composition

Republican control

Governor McCrory's appointments of fellow Republicans Mark Martin and Bob Hunter to supreme court seats in August 2014 granted them the coveted advantage of incumbency. Republicans in North Carolina, in addition to the seat of the governor, also had a majority in both legislative houses, as well as on the supreme court. This is called a trifecta plus, and allows one party, in this case the GOP, to monopolize the law-making process. The fact that the supreme court has a Republican majority means that the governor and the legislature can be more confident that the laws they choose to pass will not be deemed unconstitutional by the court.

John Davis, a conservative political consultant, believed keeping a Republican majority on the state's supreme court is essential to maintaining the party's political power throughout the state. His motto: "Lose the court, lose the war."[24] Many outside political groups agreed. Such organizations injected large amounts of money into the 2012 race between incumbent Newby, a Republican, and Ervin, a Democrat, to keep Newby on the court. Those efforts were successful.

Race-by-race

Going into the race for chief justice, Mark Martin, a Republican, already had the advantage of being a sitting justice of the supreme court. In August, he was appointed by Governor Pat McCrory to the very seat for which he was running--that of chief justice. The seat was vacated by Chief Justice Sarah Parker, who was considered a Democrat. The other candidate, Ola M. Lewis, was a senior resident superior court judge in the 13th District. Martin won election.

In the race to replace Justice Martin were two colleagues from the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Sam Ervin, the Democratic candidate, was fresh off of a 2012 supreme court race where he was defeated by incumbent Justice Paul Martin Newby. Ervin's opponent, Bob Hunter, was appointed to the supreme court seat by the governor in August, giving him the edge of incumbency. Hunter transitioned from his post on the court of appeals to the supreme court in early September. Ervin won election.

Justice Hudson came out of a big primary with a win and maintained her incumbent advantage over general election candidate Eric L. Levinson.[25]Hudson won election.

Dollars and sense

Supreme court candidates generally don't have much name recognition with voters. The need to build name recognition quickly with voters from around the entire state often leads candidates to use television ads and mass mailings of candidate flyers to promote themselves. Unfortunately, these types of advertising have a high cost. State supreme court races have become significantly expensive, especially in North Carolina.

Over $1 million spent on TV ads

About a month before the November 4 election, Justice at Stake reported that candidates in North Carolina's supreme court races had spent over $1 million on TV ads. The numbers were based off of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reports as of October 4, 2014. According to the report, Ola M. Lewis, Cheri Beasley and Robin Hudson were the only candidates who had not purchased such ads.[26]

Justice for All NC, a group that supports the conservative candidates, received $1.3 million from the Republican State Leadership Committee, a national group seeking to promote conservative candidates. Justice for All aired attack ads against Justice Robin Hudson in the primary and an ad supporting candidate Mike Robinson before the general election.[27]

Changes in campaign finance laws

House Bill 589 is anticipated to boost spending on some judicial races in North Carolina. Campaign finance laws were amended by the General Assembly and scheduled to go into effect in time to impact the supreme court and court of appeals election races in 2014. Some of these changes include:

No more public financing for judicial candidates. Candidates who qualified used to receive $250,000 to finance their campaigns. All 8 candidates for statewide judicial offices qualified for public financing in 2012. Most of the funding came from voluntary fees.

The amount an individual donor may contribute to a judicial candidate increased from $1,000 to $5,000.

There are no limits on the amount an individual can donate to independent organizations which may use the money to promote or attack candidates.

Candidates no longer have to appear in an ad to say they approved it or list their top 5 donors in print ads.[28][29]

Money rolls in early for Hudson seat primary

Big spending started early in the primary race for Justice Hudson's seat, as businesses such as Reynolds American, Koch Industries and various Blue Cross Blue Shield groups helped fund Hudson's opposition. Two groups in particular have used those funds to try to unseat Hudson in the primary. The North Carolina Chamber had, as of April 30, put $225,000 into TV ads supporting Doran and Levinson. The group Justice for All NC was airing attack ads against Hudson.[30]